Wednesday 21-02-2018 - 09:55

Lizzie Dawson, University Challenge Coordinator, reports back on the Intercollegiate University Challenge event last term.

The Intercollegiate University Challenge tournament has had a new format this year with all the fixtures taking place in the same venue on the same day. After teams were selected to represent each college along with four wildcard teams, fixtures took place on Saturday 11 November for a full day of quizzing. Each team played four matches in a round robin format with volunteer quiz masters and score keepers. Buzzers were provided by the new Quiz Society to add a bit more fun.

Competition was fierce because not only would the top scoring teams go through to the quarter-finals, but the top scoring players for each team had the chance to be selected to appear on TV’s University Challenge.

Out of the twenty teams that took part, eight made it through to the Quarter Finals: Castle, Chad’s, Grey, John’s, Ustinov, Van Mildert, Wildcard A and Wildcard D; and eight made it through to the semis, which took place a week later: Castle, Chad’s, Grey, John’s, Ustinov, Van Mildert, Wildcard A and Wildcard D.

The winning team was Castle, who won against Chad’s in a tense final. Congratulations to the team members: William Tams, James Shinner, Alex Wordley, Charles Bland and Matthew Hedge. Congratulations also to Chad’s team members who were the Runners-Up: Michael Aspin, Harriet Good, Richard Penney, Edmund Mayne and Oliver Griffiths (Reserve).

 

I interviewed William Tams who took over as Team Captain for the finals and has been selected as a reserve player to represent Durham on TV’s University Challenge.

How did it feel to win?

It was brilliant to win the intercollegiates – Castle came second last year, so it was rather unexpected to actually improve on that! The competition was incredibly close though; the level of talent from all the colleges was exceptional. I have to admit that Grey humbled us, and our match against Wildcard A was pretty controversial... But we just picked ourselves up, and got there in the end.

You were down on players for the finals and had to find reserves. How were you able to make it back to win?

The team was excellent, everyone came out with some brilliant answers, and as the matches were so close everyone really was invaluable; even I managed to contribute somewhat! We were unfortunately reduced to three players by the quarter-finals, so big shout-out to Charles and Matt for really overcoming the odds at the end. It really is a privilege to be able to claim the title this year.

Thank you to everyone who took part and good luck to Durham on University Challenge!

 

If you want to take part next year, look out for the Team Try-Outs in your colleges early in Michaelmas term. In the meantime, try some of these questions from the TV selection quiz:

1. Name the Bourbon kingdom in the south of Italy, which was named for an island across the Strait of Messina from the Italian mainland.
2. In this novel, Raskolnikov thinks he can become a “great man” by killing Alyona Ivanovna with an axe.
3. Name this law, which says that at constant temperature and pressure, the volume of a gas is directly proportional to the amount of it present.
4. In medieval times, this substance was mined at Taghaza in the middle of the Sahara. The surface of the Bonneville region of Utah is covered with this material.

 

Answers: (1) Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, (2) Crime and Punishment, (3) Avogadro’s law, (4) rock salt (or sodium chloride).